Quotes of the day

posted at 9:00 pm on April 30, 2011 by Allahpundit

“Republican leaders, activists and donors, anxious that the party’s initial presidential field could squander a chance to capture grass-roots energy and build a strong case against President Obama at the outset of the 2012 race, are stepping up appeals for additional candidates to jump in, starting with Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana…

“The first contests of the primary are at least eight months away, and most of the candidates have yet to fully open their campaigns, but some party leaders worry that Republicans are making a bad first impression by appearing tentative about their prospects against Mr. Obama and allowing Donald J. Trump to grab headlines in the news vacuum of the race’s early stages.

“‘The race needs more responsible adults who can actually do the job,’ said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party…

“To some degree the disquiet about the field reflects tensions between the party establishment and the Tea Party movement about substance and style, with the newly influential grass-roots conservatives more comfortable with provocative messages, unconventional approaches and new faces than their establishment counterparts.”

***
“A ‘fringe’ nominee is unlikely. Democrats are hoping that the Republicans nominate somebody like Barry Goldwater, who satisfied the right wing but alienated independent and moderately Republican voters in 1964. However, that has not happened since the AuH2O candidacy, in large part because primaries now dominate the nomination process. That tends to reduce the influence of the most ideologically committed voters, as a broader cross-section of the electorate participates in primaries than party caucuses. Goldwater – who won the nomination in 1964 because of depth of support, rather than breadth – would probably not have been able to pull it out if the rules of today had been in place back then. His victory depended on his loyal supporters taking control of state and local party organizations, but these units are no longer in charge of the nomination.

“This is why, since the party reforms of the 1970s, most Republican nominees have been downright ‘boring.’ George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and John McCain have been the selections in the last 20 years – and even Ronald Reagan was not really an insurgent in 1980. By that point, he had served for two terms as governor of the largest state in the union, and had stood for the GOP nomination twice already. In all likelihood, the nominee in 2012 will be similar to the ones we’ve seen over the last 30 years.”

***
“Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) would be the ‘perfect pick’ for the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, said Tea Party figurehead and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).

“Armey, in a video posted Friday to the website of the conservative magazine Newsmax, effused praise for Daniels and expressed a preference for one of the other former governors expected to join the race as a possible alternative…

“‘I do think we have to look to the governors,’ he said. ‘But once again, the experience of the governors that have really grappled with budgets and dealt with them — right now I think is what we’re looking for.’”

***
“Asked in a public question-and-answer session about his past support for a cap-and-trade-like program limiting carbon emissions, Pawlenty answered: ‘It was a mistake, it was stupid and I’m sorry.’…

“To the audience in Manchester, the maneuver was obvious. Pawlenty wasn’t just offering one more recanting of his past support for an environmental policy that’s unpopular with conservatives. He also was preemptively drawing a contrast with Mitt Romney, who has declined to apologize for signing a universal health care law as governor of Massachusetts.”

***
“Romney remains an exceptionally unnatural public speaker. To convey passion and excitement, he raises the pitch of his voice and imbues it with urgency. But it never quite clicks. His tone and affect are like that of an adult doing a dramatic reading of a pirate story to a wide-eyed three year old. It doesn’t help that he speaks too quickly and often trips over his lines. At points during his speech, Romney seemed to slip into a frenzy and start madly free associating economic buzzwords…

“Romney seemed so panicked by the slip up that he rushed ahead to explain how gas prices were set, and briefly and inadvertently shed his ‘candidate’ persona and reverted to ‘businessman’–and then he gave a cogent and authoritative mini-briefing on how prices are set by the expectation of future supply and demand, and thus could be brought down with the right energy policy. No pandering, no buzzword, no mawkish invocation of American exceptionalism. If that Romney were ever to emerge for a sustained period, it’s hard to imagine who could challenge him for the nomination.”

Blowback

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Comments

That’s what I don’t understand. Even Ayn Rand and Objectivists supported Ford over Reagan and they were never enthused by Reagan. Even today, they seem to be more opposed to Palin than any of the RINOs. Why is that? Why are the libertarians aligning with moderate republicans who are always statists than with the small government types? What I find most perplexing is that Palin is even libertarian, not even full on social conservative like Bush or Huckabee. And yet, they find her more objectionable than Romney or Daniels. Why is that?

promachus on April 30, 2011 at 10:29 PM

I have told you several times. It is not Palin’s politics.

It is a combination of three things: the fact that she was only governor for less than one term.

And that she left under less than pristine conditions.

And third her abrasive and attactk dog style.

Most of what you like about Palin is a turn off to the majority of others.

She is great as an Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity type of figure, because they do the same thing, but as a leader it is just not what most poeple want.

In short… Palin is not very politic. She is no diplomat.

I am not a Palin hater so don’t start. If she is the nominee I will vote for her.

You said you didn’t get it. You probably still won’t because you see her so differently, but that is how most of us see her.

How the whole issue of how the Trooper-in-law and the Chief-of-Police was handled.

AshleyTKing on May 1, 2011 at 12:59 AM

You mean where the trooper is still a trooper and the State Police chief was releaved of his duties, the events that were found not to be illegal or unethical? I’m fine with it, as was the Dept of Law in Alaska…

Anything else to throw out as an abuse of power while Palin was Governor?

You defend a shallow welter of hateful and recycled charges as reasonable critique — or “real hesitance” — then accuse those who offer actual substantiated rebuttal as irrational idolizers of Palin and loiterers at lefty sites (incoherence, anyone?). For good measure, you toss in your own moldy croutons to the word salad of Palin slurs.

You defend a shallow welter of hateful and recycled charges as reasonable critique — or “real hesitance” — then accuse those who offer actual substantiated rebuttal as irrational idolizers of Palin and loiterers at lefty sites (incoherence, anyone?). For good measure, you toss in your own moldy croutons to the word salad of Palin slurs.

But let’s not “get you started.”

rrpjr on May 1, 2011 at 1:29 AM

You said it my friend. I’ve had it up to here with the damned Palin bashing. If she weren’t a broad and most likely better looking than the attacker(such as petunia here) you’d not hear word one.
All I hear is idiotic accolades of the milquetoasts like Romney, Daniels, Pawlenty, et al. If they were half the man Palin is, you’d be saying “Sarah Palin who?”
Get bent, petunia, and take your Palin bashing somewhere else like D Koz or HuffPo.

Thanks for venting out your spleen, petunia but my question was not about your opinion about Palin but why libertarians disliked both Palin and Reagan. I know your idiotic brain wouldn’t be able to elucidate much on anything but thanks for playing.

How the whole issue of how the Trooper-in-law and the Chief-of-Police was handled.

AshleyTKing on May 1, 2011 at 12:59 AM

By your use of Baily and Devon as your source for saying she “abused” her power as governor–you have forfeited any credible belief we would have in your “opinion”. Because that is what it is, an opinion based on factless inuendo, with NO BASIS in evidence. Like your little noxious weed friend, Petunia, you like to throw out comments without any backup as to why you formed an opinion. Bailey and Devon…REALLY?

Daniels, Pawlenty, Romney, give me a break. Why don’t you gutless moderates just take the Roman way out and slit your wrists in a hot bath. You’d rather sit through another Bob Dole campaign?

I do think the Presidency is a stretch for Sarah Palin but I’d much rather have someone with her character and honesty over any of those professional liars on the short list. I expect a war with Obama. A lot of blood and anger. I’m don’t have confidence that even one of those gutless clowns will have the stones to stand up to the media onslaught.

So, if we don’t draft LTC West or Gov. Perry or if Herman doesn’t catch fire then it’s got to be Sarah. I’m not voting for another back-stabbing phony conservative.

What makes Mitch Daniels a gutless moderate? He actually did more truly conservative things as Governor than Sarah Palin did, and he served two terms. Just because he suggested a truce on social issues? How much have you heard Sarah Palin talking about abortion or gay marriage lately?

I don’t want a candidate to talk about social issues. And yes, that includes Daniels when he suggested his “truce.” Leave the social issues up to the states. Trig Palin is a stronger endorsement of pro-life views than any words Sarah Palin could have ever uttered.

Yes. I agree.
If so many busy bodies want to control lives by micromanaging our every move, then do it at the state level.
Like here in ND Bismarck voted by like 60% to ban smoking in all restaurants,bars, & tobacco shops (no kidding).
Effing retarded.
But that’s what they want evidently.
Each sovereign state=independent government experiment.
That is the way it was intended to be.